Hillary Clinton

Tonight is the third and final showdown between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. With less than three weeks to go until election day, the stakes have never been higher. Here’s how the night will go down:

Hillary Clinton will once again control both the debate and the narrative around it

Hillary has some significant flaws, but she’s been able to get through two debates without really being exposed. This comes down to two things: One, her poise and indifference has contrasted beautifully with Donald Trump’s blustering interruptions. Without saying a word, or indeed doing much of anything during these moments, she comes across as calm while Trump comes across as an unhinged loon. Two, her campaign has a stockpile of incriminating material on the Donald, which they are strategically releasing both to force Trump on the defensive during and after the debates and to draw attention away from Hillary’s foibles, such as her Wall Street transcripts. You can bet they already have another Alicia Machado-type story just waiting for Hillary to mention during the debate.(more…)

To a visitor, Albuquerque looked like any ordinary state capital. It had a courthouse, a capitol building, a police station, and a sleazy, moodily-lit Italian restaurant where crooked politicians made Faustian bargains with bloodthirsty mafiosi bank.

But there was something out of the ordinary about Albuquerque: from 1995 to 2003, no child or grown-up had had to deal with a tax hike. People wanted to know: how did Albuquerque do it?

The brains behind it all was the governor during that time, Encyclopedia Johnson. Now, Encyclopedia’s real name was Gary. But he was only called that in official state documents. Everyone else knew him as “Encyclopedia” because his brain was filled with more facts than a reference book. He was so smart that they said he should run for President, so he did. And to prove how great and smart he was, they booked him a town hall meeting with Chris Matthews, broadcast live on MSNBC. (more…)

Hillary Clinton: Who knew just standing there with an amused look on her face while letting Trump’s increasingly desperate jabs bounce off her without a trace could be so effective?

The 2014 FIFA World Cup: Lester Holt’s moderation was a delightful throwback to the lenient refereeing in that Brazil vs. Colombia game that ended with Juan Zúñiga breaking Neymar’s back

Men repeatedly interrupting women: Many pundits are saying that Trump was at his strongest in the opening half hour, during which he interrupted Clinton 25 times, showing that this evergreen staple of sexism is still alive and kicking even in our progressive modern age

Finally. After MONTHS of the media milking overblown controversies while giving Donald Trump and his cronies a free pass, of ridiculous and untrue statements from the Trump campaign, of absurd and sexist scrutiny about Hillary’s health, Tuesday’s debate is her chance to turn the tables on Trump and rip him and his flimsy proposals to shreds. Here’s how:

We’ve known all along that there’s only one candidate who understands the issues and will take the presidency seriously, and it sure as heck ain’t the guy who’s been blowing off any sort of debate prep. The whole country will watch Hillary clearly and effortlessly articulate the specifics of her proposals while Trump continues to avoid explaining how he’s going to get his wall built, and they’ll see that Trump’s proposals are just a bunch of thin air.

Donald Trump: He probably still owes the Clintons after they came to his wedding, and calling in that favor right now is the logical next step in this bonkers election year

Tim Kaine: Seems like an all-round good guy with a particuarly good relationship with the Black and Hispanic communities, which will be valuable in the current climate–but he sings tenor in his church choir, and having sung in choirs for more than a decade I know firsthand that you should never, EVER trust a tenor